Vertical take-off and landing aircraft

1,141,575. VTOL aircraft. BÍLKOW G.m.b.H. 9 Aug., 1967 [11 Aug., 1966], No. 36605/67. Heading B7G. A V.T.O.L. aircraft includes a lift engine 7 mounted on a supporting device, e.g. a door 2 or an arm 15, which is either pivotable about or mounted to move transversely to a fore-and-aft axis 3 on or near the floor 4 of a recess in the aircraft, to firstly move the engine into and out of the recess the engine axis remaining aligned with the axis 3, and secondly, when the engine is out of the recess, to rotate the engine about a transverse axis Q or Qa (e.g. on a ball bearing 5 or on a bracket 16 rotatable about the arm 15) into and out of an operative position for vertical thrust. There may be a ball 18 and socket 19 locking device to hold the engine in the recess. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 2, the door 2 is rotated about the axis 3 by two hydraulic jacks (9, 10), Fig. 3 (not shown), the door carrying a motor (11), Fig. 4 (not shown), and gearing (12, 13, 14) for rotating a yoke 6 carrying the engine 7 in the bearing 5. With the engine 7 in the operative position the door 2 extends, at 2a, beyond the nozzle 7a of the engine helping to draw a flow K of cooling air between the engine and the door. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 5, the arm 15 is telescopic and is extended by a drive unit 17 before the engine is rotated to its vertical thrust position, thereby allowing a flow K of cooling air to flow between the engine and the aircraft.